Though nearing its final run in September, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home will host a benefit performance in Orlando on July 24 to help the victims of the Pulse tragedy, reports the Associated Press. The concert will take place just a few blocks away from the nightclub at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
“It was one of those perfect moments where everyone aligned and did so quite quickly, understanding that many of the ideas and themes within Fun Home would be a perfect gift and a way for the community to come together in advocation for LGBT rights,” Producer Kristin Caskey told AP.
The idea started with Michael Cerveris, who plays Bechdel’s father; he said, “We’re just going to go and tell Alison’s story and hope that it provides some entertainment and distraction but also a place for some of the grief to go.”
Victims of the shooting, as well as their family members, will have access to free seats to the hit musical, which in its opening year won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. This has followed an outpouring of support from across the Broadway Community — Kinky Boots delivered a portion of proceedings from one show to help the LGBT community in Southern Florida, and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has been vocal about supporting the victims, from his passionate Tony acceptance speech, to his new Orlando victim benefit song he co-created with Jennifer Lopez.
This is not an unprecedented move for the cast, who went down to the College of Charleston South Carolina two years ago, back when the show was still Off-Broadway. The school was threatened with a budget cut because it encouraged freshmen to read Bechdel’s graphic novel (on which the musical is based) of the same name.